RONNIE EYES £2M BOUNTY
Rocket ready to double down
Ronnie O’Sullivan could land a £ 2million bonus if he keeps turning on the style.
The Rocket’s sponsor BetCRIS have offered up the staggering sum if the five-time world champion equals the record for f ive ranking titles in a season and wins the World Championship.
O’Sullivan has been on fire this term and could level Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui’s record of five ranking titles if he wins today’s Players Championship Final in Llandudno. The English ace will face either old foe Mark Wi l liams or arch rival Shaun Murphy in the showcase with a £ 125,000 f irst prize up for grabs.
But that’s peanuts compared to what the 42-year- old will land if he doubles up with a Crucible triumph.
O’Sullivan said: “If I go on to win this tournament, my sponsors will give me a mi l lion- pound bonus for equalling the record for ranking wins in a season.
“If I go on to win at the World Championship they said they’ll double it.
“For me it’s more important to win tournaments but they know how hard I work and they’re happy to reward me.
“I’m lucky to have such great sponsors putting up great rewards to aim for.”
Earlier in the season, O’Sullivan was in two minds about whether to compete at Crucible next month and even threatened to skip the game’s marquee event in favour of filming a reality TV show in Australia.
But the motivation of a bumper pay day will make sure he definitely returns to snooker’s spiritual home in Sheffield.
He said: “My sponsors want me to play at the World Championship. It’s good for them and good for everybody involved.” Lockerbie’s Hannah Fleming and her team ended their first World Championship on a high after beating the Olympic gold and silver medallists in their final two round-robin matches.
The Scots finished eighth-equal overall, just one win shy of a spot in the medal play-offs in Ontario.
They left the best until last, stunning Sweden’s Olympic champ Anna Hasselborg 8-5 before signing off with a 6-5 victory over South Korea’s EunJung Kim. Frustrated coach John Tripp blasted his Braehead Clan squad after they crashed 6-3 at home to Nottingham Panthers.
Tripp’s men led 2- 0 on Friday but the roof fell in and the coach said: “You need the big players to show up and show the leadership but we did not get that.
“We caught Nottingham falling asleep in the first period but they came back. We did not have enough layers on the ice.”
I’m lucky to have such great sponsors putting up great rewards